Sweet Piece
by the ramblin rose
Summary: Shandrea, short. S2, Ep1 "What Lies Ahead." Andrea thought he was talking about the gun.


**AN: This is in a series of "shorts" that I'm doing for entertainment value as I rewatch some episodes. Some of them are interpretations/rewrites of scenes that are in each episode. Some are scenes that never happened but could have in "imagination land". They aren't meant to be taken seriously and they aren't meant to be mind-blowing fic. They're just for entertainment value and allowing me to stretch my proverbial writing muscles. If you find any enjoyment in them at all, then I'm glad. If you don't, I apologize for wasting your time. They're "shorts" or "drabbles" or whatever you want to call them so I'm not worrying with how long they are. Some will be shorter, some will be longer.**

 **I own nothing from the Walking Dead.**

 **I hope that you enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

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Andrea had been watching him for a good amount of time. Of course, he'd been watching her too. She'd come pretty damn close to offing herself. To "opting out," as Jenner had called it. Her little sister was dead—her whole family was gone, as far as any of them knew—and she seemed to be having a difficult time shaping her relationship with Dale, or any of them, into a reason to live.

It would be a shame, though, if she'd gone through with it and she'd just ended it all. Besides the fact that Shane thought she could very well have the balls for surviving in this world, with a little help and a little training and especially if she could get over this funk she'd fallen into, she wasn't bad to look at. Not bad at all, really. And, from what Shane could see, there was something of a population shortage going on—good looking women were a hotter commodity than they'd ever been before.

It would be a shame to lose a woman like Andrea over some kind of feelings about being alone.

Rick was back, and it seemed that Lori was going back to him entirely. She'd decided to completely ignore everything that had happened. She was ignoring Shane and everything they'd been through while Rick was in the hospital in Atlanta. She was ignoring their relationship and the love that Shane had felt for her—the love he knew that she'd felt for him. She was ignoring anything that didn't conveniently fit with the image of the happy marriage that she was trying to portray once again—because the real marriage was one that hadn't really been happy for a while. Rick was taking her back. He was taking Carl back, too.

In fact, Rick seemed to be laying claim to whatever or _whoever_ in the group interested him. He'd do whatever he had to do play the role of the good husband and the good cop. He was the good soldier—there to protect them all and, in doing so, to never truly protect anyone. He was just _playing_ , like Lori, and he had to be the conquering hero for whoever he was interested in impressing.

For whatever reason, though, he didn't seem too interested in Andrea.

Rick wasn't interested in Andrea as anything more than just another member of the group—someone else to follow him and make him feel good about himself. Someone to increase the numbers that made Rick feel important.

Rick was busy. He was busy with Lori and Carol, in particular. He was busy with Carl and Sophia. He was busy being a _family man_ and Andrea had no family to offer him. So Rick just didn't have time for her.

But with Lori gone? With the prospect of watching her, watching him, day in and day out, every time she kissed Rick or praised him for his bravery? Shane was pretty sure that _he_ had time for Andrea. He was pretty sure that he could _find_ time for Andrea. And he didn't suspect, especially with her current frame of mind, that it would be too difficult to get her attention.

She would be, practically, like putty in his hands.

Andrea had brought her gun with her and she barely let it out of her sight. Like a security blanket, she took it with her wherever she went, even if her knowledge about the firearm was limited. Shane suspected that, like Barney Fife, Andrea could feel safe with the gun even if it didn't have any bullets. It was the idea of the gun that, for right now, made Andrea feel secure. It was the image of the gun and what she imagined it could do for her, even if it wouldn't really keep her safe as long as she didn't know how to use it to its full potential.

She had a great deal of interest in the weapon, though, for that security that it offered her—real or imagined—and that curiosity led her to want to know more about guns in general. It was something that Shane could work with, because he had the knowledge that she craved. And, even if she didn't realize it yet, he could represent the safety that she was looking for—if that's what he decided he wanted to do. Even now she was watching Shane clean his gun in such a way that he wasn't entirely sure if Andrea's profound interest was in him or his weapon.

And it didn't matter. Not at all. Shane could work with either one. Either interest would give him the opportunity to get to know her better. Either would provide him with a way _in_. Something to get the ball rolling.

"I could teach you how to clean yours," Shane offered.

"Yeah?" Andrea asked, her interest piqued.

"Gimme your gun," Shane said, holding a hand out to her. Andrea, usually reluctant to do such a thing, handed over her metal security blanket and Shane checked it over. He made sure to admire it enough to please her. For a moment the weapon was a direct tie to her. Any attention he paid to the piece was as good as attention paid directly to Andrea. She leaned a little closer to him over the table as he offered her some fairly obvious information about the capacity of her own weapon—something she _had_ to have already known, something that she could figure out with nothing more than _common sense_. If she knew the information before, though, she didn't stop him or scold him for treating her like she wouldn't know something so simple. She continued to feign interest—or else she was genuinely interested—and kept her eyes focused on Shane. She looked pleased for a moment, despite the depression he knew she was suffering from.

There was some hope there, and Rick didn't have a monopoly on everyone.

"Sweet piece," Shane said.

Andrea, clearly enjoying the attention she was receiving from him, launched into a story about how she'd acquired the weapon from her father and it was Shane's turn to feign interest. He watched her, listened to her, and let her go on believing that he'd ever really been talking about the gun.


End file.
